Mumbai: Khar woman alleges police undervalued stolen jewellery in FIR, threatened to book her

Arvind Kumar Upadhyay, the main accused in the case

Mumbai police are not taking efforts to return the jewellery stolen from my house even after arresting two accused," claimed Sheetal Vanvaria, 49, from Khar. She added that despite providing bills and photos of the silver, gold and diamond jewellery worth over Rs 50 lakh, the cops had pegged its value at only Rs 13 lakh at the time of filing the FIR.

Photos of some of the jewellery that was stolen

Khar cops arrested two men after the house break-in in March and recovered some of the stolen gold worth only Rs 4.90 lakh. But there has been no further recovery since. "The thief also decamped with Rs 50,000. But the cops said the lost property was worth Rs 13 lakh," Vanvaria told mid-day. "Three days after the incident, the police arrested Arvind Kumar Upadhyay and a Kalbadevi-based jeweller." "According to cops, Upadhyay had sold the jewellery to the arrested jeweller. If both of them are now behind bars, what is stopping the cops from recovering the rest of the valuables," she asked.

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Vanvaria then approached Sanjay Pandey, the then commissioner of police, following which the case was transferred to Bandra police. "I also met Zonal Deputy Commissioner of Police Manjunath Shinge, but he misbehaved and threatened to book a case against me if I visit the police station. He told me that the probe is going on. But I want to know what investigation they are doing," she asked. "My daughter's wedding had to be cancelled because we do not have enough jewellery and money. I have been mentally harassed and threatened by the police….where should I go for justice?"

DCP Shinge said, "We were quick to register an FIR and the accused was arrested by our competent officers. We have also made recovery in the case, but the complainant is not satisfied with our work... She has been losing her temper while talking to our cops... She has been misbehaving with the officers at Khar and Bandra police stations, but our men have been patient as she is a victim. We have been trying to make full recovery and we are working on it. She needs to understand that police investigation takes time."